Author
Topic: Grammar quirks (Read 86851 times)

I don't know if it's regional but it's getting more and more common in news reports and published non-fiction. It's one thing to see it in novels. It's quite another to find it in magazines and newspapers.

Back in the day people wrote the above just to see how many people would immediately email in a correction (back when all there was were email lists) and it carried over to forums. Nowadays? I don't know if people are still being silly or if they don't know the difference.

"I feel sarcasm is the lowest form of wit." "It is so low, in fact, that Miss Manners feels sure you would not want to resort to it yourself, even in your own defense. We do not believe in retaliatory rudeness." Judith Martin

Back in the day people wrote the above just to see how many people would immediately email in a correction (back when all there was were email lists) and it carried over to forums. Nowadays? I don't know if people are still being silly or if they don't know the difference.

Back in the day people wrote the above just to see how many people would immediately email in a correction (back when all there was were email lists) and it carried over to forums. Nowadays? I don't know if people are still being silly or if they don't know the difference.

I see it on blogs a lot in contexts where I truly believe the authors donít know the difference.

Since I don't read many blogs, I hear it instead of seeing it. Usually pronounce 'walla', with the emphasis on the first syllable. Certain people on TV use it all.the.time.

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~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Common sense is not a gift, but a curse. Because thenyou have to deal with all the people who don't have it. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Back in the day people wrote the above just to see how many people would immediately email in a correction (back when all there was were email lists) and it carried over to forums. Nowadays? I don't know if people are still being silly or if they don't know the difference.

I notice this one in speech more than writing (and am guilty of it myself, when Iím not thinking things out before I say them):

"So-and-so and Iís belonging" instead of "So-and-soís and my belonging". Every time I realize Iíve said it I know I wince, but it just slips out out of habit.

"Our belonging" works even better!

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~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Common sense is not a gift, but a curse. Because thenyou have to deal with all the people who don't have it. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I notice this one in speech more than writing (and am guilty of it myself, when Iím not thinking things out before I say them):

"So-and-so and Iís belonging" instead of "So-and-soís and my belonging". Every time I realize Iíve said it I know I wince, but it just slips out out of habit.

"Our belonging" works even better!

There are occasions when you want to clarify whose it is, rather than sounding like you could be using the "royal our", so to speak.

For instance, "Please come to my twinís and my birthday party" sounds a bit different than "Please come to our birthday party", depending on who you are speaking with (and their familiarity with said twin, etc).

I think this is more of a spelling issue than a grammar one - but gurl instead of girl.

I know not everyone is a brilliant speller, but really, girl is not a hard one to learn!

If you didn't know how to spell a lot in my freshman class, you certainly did by the time you got out. If you spelled it alot you were assigned 100 sentences using it correctly. Separate was another favorite of my English professor's words - not seperate, aggh.

She wrote A Lot on the chalkboard (just like that) and if you got it wrong, Lord help you because you were going to be busy.

I think this is more of a spelling issue than a grammar one - but gurl instead of girl.

I know not everyone is a brilliant speller, but really, girl is not a hard one to learn!

If you didn't know how to spell a lot in my freshman class, you certainly did by the time you got out. If you spelled it alot you were assigned 100 sentences using it correctly. Separate was another favorite of my English professor's words - not seperate, aggh.

She wrote A Lot on the chalkboard (just like that) and if you got it wrong, Lord help you because you were going to be busy.

My freshman English teacher was a fan of "Separate. It has 'a rat' in it. And youíd want to separate a rat from you, right?"